Chair



April 24, 1962 T. H. VAN BUREN, JR 3,031,227

CHAIR Filed Aug. 4, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Tracy H.Vun Buren,Jr.

Maw

ATTORNEYS April 24, 1962 T. H. VAN BUREN, JR 3,031, 7

CHAIR 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 4, 1960 -1/1 II II II II II II II 1; I

. INVENTOR Tracy H.Von Buren,Jr.

FIGJ.

ATTORNEYS April 24, 1962 T. H. VAN BUREN, JR 3,031,227

CHAIR Filed Aug. 4, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG .l4.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Tracy H. Van Buren,Jr.

United States Patent 3,031,227 CHAIR Tracy H. Van Buren, Jr., Charleston, S.C., assignor to tCharleston Molded Fiber Glass Co., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Aug. 4, 1969, Ser. No. 47,495 13 Claims. (Cl. 297--239) This invention relates to chairs of the type which are adapted to be stacked one upon another in nesting relationship.

One object of the invention is to provide improved means for spacing the chairs in a stack. Another object is to provide improved means for positioning adjacent chairs in a stack accurately and securely relatively to each other, with the chair seats and legs spaced from each other. Another object is to provide chairs which can be stacked together quietly, without the usual noise and clatter.

it is old to provide a stacking chair with members below the Seat adapted to rest on the seat of the adjacent chair in the stack. This is objectionable in that there is apt to be abrasion of the seats, which become marred and worn within a short period of service. In the case of chairs having seats which are contoured for comfort, the usual downward and rearward slope of the seats makes this type of stack spacing awkward. It is another object of the present invention to provide improved means for spacing contour chairs in a stack. In general this is accomplished by the use of a novel seat structure in combination with spacers provided in the chair base below the seat. The seat, which is contoured downwardly from front to rear, is provided with lateral extensions which, although integral with the seat, are not functional parts of it. These extensions are horizontal, and are formed with recesses and/or surfaces shaped to interfit the surfaces of spacers on the bases of an identical chair stacked upon it. The chairs are accurately and securely positioned with respect to each other not only vertically, but in both horizontal directions, and only the limited interfitting surfaces of the seat extensions and the coacting surfaces of the base of the next higher chair touch each other.

The above and other objects of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, will be apparent from the following description and the appended drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair made in accord with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the same at larger scale, with a portion broken away to show the construction more clearly.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section taken substantially on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation at reduced scale showing two such chairs stacked one upon another, the backs of the chair seats being omitted.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section on line 5--5 of FIG. 4, at enlarged scale.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another chair made in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of the same, shown at a larger scale.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary section taken on line 8-5 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation at reduced scale showing two such chairs stacked one upon another, the back portions of the chair seats being omitted.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view on line litii) of FIG. 9, at enlarged scale.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of still another chair made in accordance with the present invention.

3,031,227 Patented Apr. 24, 19%2 ice FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of same.

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary section taken on line l3ll3 of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a side elevation at reduced scale showing two such chairs stacked one upon another, the backs of the seats being omitted.

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary view taken in line 15-45 of FIG. 14, at enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawings wherein similar characters indicate the same or similar parts, FIG. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of my invention comprising a chair 20 having a base 21 and a seat 22 secured thereto. Seat 22 is of a suitably contoured configuration and may be molded of any suitable material, for example, fiberglass-reinforced thermosetting resin, or it may be formed of sheet metal. integrally formed with seat 22 and extending outwardly on the opposite lateral sides thereof, are a pair of stacking supports 23, 24 which are formed with recessed portions 25 and 26 respectively, the function of which will be explained below. Stacking supports 23, 24 and recessed portions 25, 26 are substantially horizontal, for stacking purposes, whereas the contoured portion of the seat slopes downwardly to the rear for comfort, as shown in FIG. 2, as-weil as curving downwardly from stacking supports 23, 24 as shown in FIG. 3.

Chair base 21 comprises a pair of inverted U-shaped leg members 27, 28, each of which has a front leg 29 and a rear leg 30 connected at the top by a connecting member 31. As shown in H65. 2 and 4, legs 29 and 30 diverge downwardly from connecting member 31, so as to permit stacking as illustrated in FIG. 4. Transverse connecting members 33 and 34 connect the respective connecting members 31 of U-shapcd leg members 27 and 28. The parts of base 21 thus far described are fabricated of tubular metal stock, welded at the joints. Welded to, and extending upwardly from transverse connecting members 33, 34 are flanges 35 and 36, each of which has an upper web to provide a mounting to fit the downward slope of the seat, as shown in FIG. 2. As best shown in FIG. 3, seat 22 is fastened to flanges 35 and 36 by means of bolts 37, the heads of which are recessed in the seat. Suitable resilient Washers, for example made of Neoprene, are provided around bolt 3'7 between seat 22 and flanges 35, 36, in order to provide a squeak-proof assembly.

Attached to the undersides of connecting members 31 are a pair of stacking spacers 40, one on each side. Preferably, spacers 40 are formed of a suitable soft or yielding material so as to serve as bumpers as well as spacers in stacking, as will be explained below. I have found polyethylene to be a highly satisfactory material for this purpose. Bumpers 40 are formed with intergral upwardly extending pins 4-1 each of which has an upper end of reduced diameter, the lower end being slightly larger than that of holes formed in the bottoms of connecting members 31, so that spacers 40 may be attached to connecting members 311 simply by forcing pins 41 into the holes where they are held by the expansion of the inserted portions of pins 41.

The sides of spacers 40 converge downwardly, as viewed in FIG. 3, and recesses 25 and 26 are shaped to lit the lower portions of the spacers of an identical chair. Recesses 25 and 26 are also shaped longitudinally, with downwardly converging end surfaces 43, as shown in FIG. 2, to receive correspondingly downwardly converging end surfaces 42 of the stacking spacers of an identical chair. As will be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, each stacking spacer 40 is parallel to and is spaced directly below the respective recesses 25 and 26, both longitudinally, as shown in FIG. 2, and transversely as shown in FIG. 3. Thus,

when a chair 20a of identical construction and configuration is stacked upon chair 29, the stacking spacer 40a of the upper chair fits in the corresponding stacking support 24 of the lower chair, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the two chairs are spaced from each other, and do not touch each other except at the coacting portions of the stacking supports and stacking spacers. The downwardly converging surfaces of these members coact to guide the chairs into accurate spaced relation to each other, both longitudinally and transversely. By virtue of the soft nature of stacking spacers 40 the chairs may be stacked silently, even if the chair seats are formed of metal.

FIGS. 6 to 10 show another embodiment of my invention. These figures show a chair 120 which is similar to the chair 20, of FIGS. 1 to 5. The above description may be read on this embodiment, by adding to the figure numbers and 100 to the character numbers. The corresponding parts are given the same numbers in the 100 series and are substantially the same except as follows:

As best shown in FIG. 7, connecting members 131 slope downwardly toward the rear at the desired slope of the seat 122, which is bolted directly to transverse connecting members 133, 134 by bolts 137. Washers 138, of Neoprene or the like, between seat 122 and the transverse connecting members extend upwardly to the heads of the bolts through enlarged apertures in the seat.

Stacking spacers 140 comprise horizontal rods, the ends of which are fixed as by welding to the inner surfaces of front and rear legs 129, 130.

The recessed portions 125 and 126 in the respective stacking supports 123 and 124 extend the full lengths of the supports. Preferably, the stacking supports 123, 124 have a length such that, when chairs are stacked as illustrated in FIG. 9, the front and rear ends of stacking members 123, 124 take up against the inner surfaces of legs 129, 130, as indicated at 144 and 145 in FIG. 9.

With this arrangement, as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-5, the stacking spacers 140 are vertically below the respective recesses 125, 126, as shown in FIG. 8, and these recesses are shaped to receive the stacking support of an identical chair stacked upon it. This firmly positions the two chairs with respect to each other transversely, as viewed in FIG. Also, as viewed in FIG. 7, spacers 140 are vertically below recesses 126, and the stacking supports 124 are of a length, and have a left to right position as viewed in FIG. 7 such that their rounded end surfaces bear against legs 129, 130 in the stacking position, as explained above and illustrated in FIG. 9. This positions the chairs relatively to each other in a longitudinal or front to rear direction.

FIGS. 11-15 show a third embodiment of my invention. The description of the first embodiment may be read on this one by adding 10 to the figure numbers and 200 to the character numbers. This embodiment is similar to the other two, except as follows:

The transverse connecting members 233, 234 are spaced downwardly slightly, so as to connect the front legs 229 and the rear legs 230 respectively. As in the second embodiment, the stacking spacers comprise horizontal rods 240, but they are of square cross sections. Base 221 is formed of metal rod stock, or it may, of course, be formed of tubing or of wood. Seat 222 is fastened to base 221 by bolting the stacking supports 223, 224 directly to the connecting members 231. Recessed portions 225, 226 have flat bottoms to fit the stacking spacers 240, and the sides of the recesses converge downwardly slightly to facilitate registering the adjacent chairs when stacking them. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the lengths of stacking supports 223, 224 is such that their rounded edges 244, 245 fit against the respective legs of the chair which they support.

In the second and third embodiments, bands of rubber or the like may be provided on stacking spacers 140 and 240 respectively, and the recesses 125, 216 and 225, 226

made larger to accommodate them, so as to provide quieter stacking.

It will be seen that I have provided convenient means for spacing chairs or the like in stacks, positioned accurately with respect to each other in both the front-to-rear and the side-to-side directions by novel shaped supports formed integrally with the seats, and interfitting spacers on the chair bases.

Numerous changes within the scope of the claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A stackable chair comprising a base, said base having a pair of downwardly diverging legs on each lateral side of said chair, a seat attached to sm'd base, and stacking means, said means comprising a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side, and a pair of stacking spacers in said base, one on each lateral side between the respective pair of legs and below the tops thereof, each of said stacking supports having an elongate stacking recess disposed in a front to rear direction formed in its top surface, each said stacking spacer having an elongate stacking surface on its bottom side, said surface being spaced below, parallel to, and of substantially the same length as the stacking recess on the same lateral side, and being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking recess of an identical chair upon which said first-named chair is stacked.

2. A stackable chair as defined by claim 1, said stacking spacers each having spaced transverse end surfaces at the opposite ends of its elongate stacking surface, said stacking supports each having spaced transverse end surfaces at the opposite ends of the respective stacking recesses, said last-named end surfaces coacting with the first-named end surfaces of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair to prevent relative front to rear movement of the stacked chairs.

3. A stackable chair as defined by claim 1, said stacking supports each having spaced transverse end surfaces at the opposite ends of the respective stacking recesses, said end surfaces coacting with structure of the base of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair to prevent relative front to rear movement of the stacked chairs.

4. A stackable chair comprising a base, said base having a pair of downwardly diverging legs on each lateral side of said chair, said base having a stacking spacer on each lateral side between the respective pair of legs and below the upper ends thereof, each of said stacking spacers comprising a contacting member of resilient material, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, and a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, each said recessed portion being parallel to and spaced vertically above the stacking spacer on the same lateral side of said chair and being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacer of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair.

5. A stackable chair comprising a base, said base having a pair of downwardly diverging legs on each lateral side of said chair, said base having a stacking spacer on each lateral side between the respective pair of legs and below the upper ends thereof, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, and a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, each said recessed portion being parallel to and spaced vertically above the stacking spacer on the same lateral side of said chair and being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacer of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair, each said stacking spacer being an elongate, horizontally disposed member disposed in a front to rear direction, the lateral and end sides of said spacer converging downwardly, said recessed portion of each said support having downwardly converging lateral and end surfaces shaped to coact with the sides of the corresponding spacer of said identical chair to guide the latter chair into stacked position on said first-named chair.

6. A stackable chair as defined by claim 5, said stacking spacers being of yielding material.

7. A stackable chair comprising a base, said base having a pair of downwardly diverging legs on each lateral side of said chair, said base having a stacking spacer on each lateral side between the respective pair of legs and below the upper ends thereof, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, and a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, each said recessed portion comprising a groove extending the full length of the uppermost portion of the respective support, said groove being parallel to and spaced vertically abovethe stacking spacer on the same lateral side of said chair and being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacer of an identical chair stacked on said firstnamed chair.

8. A stackable chair as defined by claim 7, said supports being of a length to abut the respective legs on the respective sides of said identical chair stacked on said first-named chair.

9. A stackable chair comprising a base, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, said base comprising a pair of inverted-U-shaped leg members, one on each lateral side of said chair, each said leg member comprising a pair of legs which diverge downwardly from a connecting member connecting the tops of said legs, a pair of stacking spacers on said base, one below each said connecting member, each said spacer comprising a contacting member of yielding material, each said spacer being spaced vertically below and being parallel to the recessed portion in the stacking support on the same side, said recessed portions being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacers of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair.

10. A stackable chair comprising a base, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, said base comprising a pair of inverted-U-shaped leg members, one on each lateral side of said chair, each said leg member comprising a pair of legs which diverge downwardly from a connecting member connecting the Ithtops of said legs, a pair of stacking spacers on said base, one below each said connecting member, each said spacer being spaced vertically below and being parallel to the recessed portion in the stacking support on the same side,

said recessed portions being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacers of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair, each said stacking spacer being attached to the under side of the connecting member of the respective leg member, so as to extend in a front to rear direction in said stackable chair, the lateral and end sides of said spacer converging downwardly, said recessed portion of each said support having downwardly converging lateral and end surfaces shaped to coact with the sides of the corresponding spacer of said identical chair to guide the latter chair into stacked position on said first-named chair.

11. A stackable chair as defined by claim 10, said stacking spacers being of yielding material.

l2. A stackable chair comprising a base, a seat attached to said base, a pair of stacking supports formed integrally with said seat, one on each lateral side of said chair, a recessed portion in the upper side of each said support, said recessed portion comprising a groove extending the length of the uppermost portion of the respective support, said base comprising a pair of inverted-U- shaped leg members, one on each lateral side of said chair, each said leg member comprising a pair of legs which diverge downwardly from a connecting member connecting the tops of said legs, a pair of stacking spacers on said base, one below each said connecting member, each said spacer being spaced vertically below and being parallel to the recessed portion in the stacking support on the same side, said recessed portions being adapted to fit the corresponding stacking spacers of an identical chair stacked on said first-named chair.

13. A stackable chair as defined by claim 12, said supports being of a length to abut the respective legs on the respective sides of said identical chair stacked on said firstnamed chair.

ReEerences Qitcd in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 187,264 King Feb. 23, 1960 2,936,024 Hendrickson May 10, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 759,330 France Nov. 16, 1933 154,207 Sweden Apr. 24, 1956 

